By Betsy Abraham
babraham@antonnews.com
First-time housing code offenders will now get a harder slap on the wrist, as the Village of Westbury Board of Trustees voted last week to increase the minimum fine for violators from $100 to $250. The range a first-time a offender can be charged is now between $250 and $1,000.
The fine structure for second-and third-time offenders was raised last year; the range for second-time offenders is now $2,500 to $5,000 and for third-time offenders is anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000.
This new fine would apply to illegal occupancies, not to property maintenance or zoning issues.
“The intent is not to penalize someone unreasonably on the first occurrence, because they might not be aware of the code or it might be a minor violation. But we believe once you get beyond that, you should have educated yourself as to the law,” said mayor Peter Cavallaro.
The village also recently raised the fine for rental permit violations. For landlords renting without the proper permit, the penalty for first time offenders was raised from $100 to $250 and for second time offenders from $1,000 to $2,500.
At the May 1 village meeting, the mayor also talked about the Ellison Ave. bridge project, which is finally seeing progress after over 20 years. The village has been trying to get a commitment from the Long Island Rail Road since 1991 to fix the bridge. Last week those efforts came to fruition. On April 28, the MTA board announced a $39 million plan to demolish and rebuild the Ellison Avenue Bridge. Work is expected to begin in June 2015 and will take about a year, at which time Ellison Ave. will be closed and traffic diverted to other streets.
“We are working on a road closure plan that will funnel traffic onto Post Ave. and out of residential areas. But there will be spillover and we have to try to accommodate that,” said Cavallaro.
The height of the bridge is expected to be the same, to avoid any nearby residential property being taken or demolitions.
